Mark Masters salutes Sam Rivers: Freedom of structure and solo-band interplay

Sam Rivers in action It was understandable that Sam Rivers would be hailed as an elder statesman of jazz long before his death at 88 in 2011. He had a career of restless, inspired collaboration and his personality as both saxophonist and bandleader was firmly stamped on the vast realm of post-bop jazz. It was a fertile area for exploration, and Rivers affected a host of younger players, including, briefly, the well-established Miles Davis. He had a loose sense of form and ensemble balance, but it was by no means mindless free-for-all thinking that animated him. One writer described his big-band writing as a cross between Duke Ellington's range of work and John Coltrane's "Ascension," a superficially chaotic ensemble that included Indianapolis' Freddie Hubbard. The common bond (between Ellington and Coltrane) fed into Rivers' artistry partly through trust in the individuality of his sidemen as both ensemble members and soloists. With "Sam Rivers 100"...